


Secret Garden

by shiroderexx



Series: Twilight [2]
Category: ATEEZ (Band), Oh My Girl (Band), Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aka me just thinking I am a sort of Stephanie Meyer, Also Wooyoung protective, Also why does everyone hate angels?, Binnie backstory, Binniebinbin is tired of his bullshit, Bloodthirst symptoms, But I said LESBIAN RIGHTS, Chan backstory, Curious!Seunghee, Demon familiar!Wooyoung, Demon!Bang Chan, F/F, F/M, Flirty Binnie, Flower deity!Hyojung, God is a petty Bitch, I said FEMINISM, Is Yooa a bottom?, It's a party!!, Jiho backstory, Mentions of Blood, Mentions of chaotic wolfpack, Mentions of sex (mostly by Wooyoung), Mimi is gone... again, Non-aggresion pact, Oblivious Seunghee, Protective!Hyojung, Secretive!Jiho, Touch deprived Seunghee, Unhappy marriage, Vampire myth recreation, Vampire sect leader!Solar, Vampire sect!Mamamoo, Vampire!Mimi, Vampire!Seunghee, Werewolf!Yooa, Witch Hunting, Witch apprentice!Binnie, Witch!Jiho, With capital B, Wooyoung backstory, Wooyoung keeps interrupting the girlies, Wooyoung tsundere, fairy!arin, family bonds, someone needs therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:28:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24902347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiroderexx/pseuds/shiroderexx
Summary: After living for some time with her new family, Seunghee is finally adapting to her vampire condition. Will she feel the bloodthirst symptoms that Mimi fervently warns her about?
Relationships: Bae Yoobin | Binnie/Hyun Seunghee, Kim Jiho & Bang Chan
Series: Twilight [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730839
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	1. Binnie

Seunghee quickly adapted to the life in the cabin thanks to her new family. Everyone welcomed her warmly while keeping for themselves. Jiho and Binnie had added a new room to the cabin for Seunghee. Hyojung gave her permission to do whatever she wanted to it, after all, that was going to be her new home. Forever. However, for the couple weeks Seunghee had spent at the house, she had fully invested her now unlimited time on reading. She had never been a bookworm herself but being immortal had changed something in her.

Seunghee did not realize at first, but slowly she started to notice some changes, physical as well as mental ones. It felt as if everything had slowed down, her biological rhythms included. She did not need as much sleep nor as much food. Surprisingly, she did not crave for blood. Mimi had explained to her that, even if vampires do need human blood to survive, they can go for long periods of time without it. She also said that there was no need for killing anyone, when blood-thirsty, Mimi just headed to the closest hospital and snuck in to steal some freshly donated blood. So far, Seunghee still had not tried it. As Mimi said, she was recently transformed, so the adrenaline was still lingering. However, Mimi also insisted on being informed if Seunghee started feeling thirsty.

“How would I know? I have never been thirsty… for blood”, Seunghee asked.

“Trust me. You will know”, Mimi assured her.

That statement scared Seunghee a little. How did it feel to be blood-thirsty? She was afraid to ask.

That was part of the reason Seunghee took on reading. She had too many questions and hoped to find some of the answers inside the library. Because yes, there was a full huge library right in front of her bedroom. Seunghee still wondered how it was possible to fit seven bedrooms, a library, a potions room, a kitchen, a music room, a living room, and a greenhouse inside the tiny cabin. When she asked Binnie, the less intimidating out of all the girls in the house, she simply said it was Jiho’s doing. Some kind of advanced enchantment. The answer felt incomplete for Seunghee, but she was too intimidated to further her interrogation.

It was not that she did not enjoy the time she spent with her new family, is just that she still, and probably them too, had not become used to each other yet. Except for Binnie. When she was not on the potion room experimenting with her herbs, she would come and keep Seunghee company. They would read together in the library, each one of them snuggled on an armchair. Jiho would come from time to time to grab a couple books but never stayed.

Seunghee had compiled a pile of books on vampire legends and was skimming through them, trying to get some insight into her new condition. Mimi was never home, meaning that her only source of reliable information was gone, so Seunghee was learning by trial and error. She started by resuming all the common points the legends described and sorted through them. Super strength? Not so much, but she was definitely stronger. Agility and super speed? That was for sure. Pale skin? Well, kind of? Seunghee had always been on the fair side so she could not really tell. Desire to kill young virgins? Not so much. Red eyes? Actually, not at all. Her eyes had turned completely black when they were a soft brown color before. The pupil and the iris were almost indistinguishable from each other now, as if they had merged. Maybe they did. Also, they did not twinkle anymore. When Seunghee looked in the mirror (yes, she could see her reflection) her eyes looked dull, as if she were dead. Well, to be fair, she was. Garlic? Not a problem, Mimi actually loved garlic bread. Crucifixes? There was not one in sight, so maybe that was real, Seunghee would have to head to a church to check for sure. Enhanced senses? That was a definite yes. Everything was much clearer and more intense. Almost painfully so. Every little noise would be amplified, every fragrance was strong. She could see clearly from afar and perfectly distinguish all of the ingredients Hyojung would use when cooking. And touch… she was surprised by that one. She could feel every cotton fiber of her t-shirt sticking to her body. But not only that. The wind, the sun, the rain… Everything felt more intense on her skin.

Today too, Seunghee was immersed on her investigations. She was sitting on one of the big armchairs, a steaming cup of tea floating beside her. That was another of Jiho’s enchantments. Almost all the cutlery was enchanted to float on command. Jiho’s magic made life easier in the simplest ways. A wind bubble on top of the clothesline so that they would never get wet in case they forgot to collect them, brooms dancing around the house cleaning up the dust, bedsheets that make the bed themselves… Truly convenient. Seunghee was reading when Binnie stormed inside the library. The girl lifted her eyes from the book she was holding to watch the newcomer. Binnie was wearing her potion making apron. It had multiple colorful stains on it, some old and some recent ones. She must have been practicing. Binnie rushed to one of the old bookshelves and started searching for a book.

“Hello”, Seunghee greeted her.

“Ah!”, Binnie was startled, “Sacred Morgan! I didn’t see you there, Seunghee!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you”, Seunghee apologized.

“It’s okay”, Binnie continued searching.

“You need help?”, Seunghee wondered.

“Not really”, Binnie sighed, “I just have to find an old potion book.”

“Are you practicing?”

“I am _trying_ ”, Binnie grabbed a book and blew on it.

Seunghee nodded and looked back to her own book, trying to get back to reading, but Binnie’s rummaging would not let her focus. After a couple minutes, Seunghee sighed and got up from her comfortable position, her teacup following behind her.

“What’s the name of the book?”, Seunghee asked the witch.

“Something demon potions related”, Binnie muttered while inspecting another book.

“Demon?”, Seunghee arched an eyebrow.

“Yeah”, Binnie looked into Seunghee’s eyes, “I am trying to perfect my nightmare inducing potion, so I need to consult that book.”

“Why would you need a nightmare potion?”, Seunghee pressed her lips.

“To torture my enemies”, Binnie faked an evil laugh.

“Yeah, sure”, the vampire chuckled.

“Truth be told, I’m practicing that one since my familiar is in the mood to help me”, Binnie rolled her eyes.

“Your familiar?”, Seunghee stopped her search and looked at Binnie.

“You still have not met him, since he’s _never_ around”, Binnie complained, “In order to become a witch I had to trade my soul for power so I made a pact with a demon who became my familiar.”

“What?”, Seunghee could not believe her ears.

“You just became a vampire, but you draw the line at the existence of demons?”, an unfamiliar voice mocked her.

Seunghee and Binnie turned around to see a man sitting comfortably on one of the armchairs. His dirty boots were resting on a table, as if he owned the place. The blonde man was checking his nails with his lips pressed. When he looked up to meet Seunghee’s gaze, she encountered a pair of bright red eyes covered in smudged black eyeshadow.

“Wooyoung!”, Binnie exclaimed, “I told you to wait for me in the potion room.”

“You were taking too long”, the guy simply shrugged.

Then he disappeared in a black smoke cloud, only to appear again right in front of Seunghee. He was so close Seunghee could feel the demon’s breath. Wooyoung was flashing her a half smile. Seunghee gulped paralyzed by the man’s powerful stare.

“Wooyoung, stop!”, Binnie ordered him.

The demon took a step back but did not stop staring at Seunghee. Binnie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose exasperated.

“Seunghee, this is my familiar, Wooyoung”, Binnie introduced the man.

Wooyoung winked an eye at the vampire, causing Seunghee to decide right that moment that she hated his guts. The man just smiled smugly at her.

“As I said, I gave him my soul in order to become a witch”, Binnie continued, “He is supposed to help me, but he never does”, she glared at Wooyoung.

“I’m a busy man”, Wooyoung excused himself.

“Yeah, you are busy seducing people”, Binnie snorted.

“Are you jealous, Binbinnie?”, Wooyoung pouted.

“What’s with the nickname?”, Binnie shook her head.

She turned around and ignored the demon to continue her search.

“Why would you give your soul to him if he doesn’t help you?”, Seunghee asked her friend.

“Hey!”, Wooyoung was offended, “I do help her!”

“You don’t get to choose your familiar”, Binnie continued to ignore the guy.

“That’s right! We were just meant to be”, Wooyoung patted Binnie’s back, “Right, Binniebinbin?”

“Stop it with the weird nicknames”, Binnie seethed.

“Why? You don’t like them, Binnieniebin?”, Wooyoung tilted his head.

The look on his face was so annoying that Seunghee could not resist the urge to punch him. However, she was smart enough not to do so. Seunghee may not have much experience with demons or the kind, in fact, it was the first time meeting another mythological creature outside of her household, but something deep inside told her that she did not want to make Wooyoung angry. Something about him both drew her in and rushed her to run away.

“It’s the allure. Or aura, or whatever you wanna call it. You vampires have it too”, Wooyoung suddenly spoke.

Seunghee opened her eyes wide in shock. Could he possibly know what she was thinking?

“Yes, I can”, Wooyoung smiled once again.

“How?”, Seunghee wanted to know.

“I’m just that kind of demon”, Wooyoung lifted his hands.

“That doesn’t answer my question”, Seunghee insisted.

“There are different types of demons”, Binnie talked again, “Wooyoung is a psychic demon, so he has a mental oriented ability.”

“So, you can read minds?”, Seunghee watched as Wooyoung nodded.

“However, there are also elemental demons, shapeshifters… Truly there are too many categories”, Binnie went on with her explanation.

Seunghee nodded and looked back at Wooyoung.

“What did you mean that vampires have it too?”, she posed.

“Oh! That? I was simply stating the truth”, Wooyoung smirked, “Vampires and demons are two sides of the same coin, we exist to pester the human race”, Wooyoung stepped forward, approaching Seunghee again, “Our purpose is attracting them, seducing them and then…”, Wooyoung blew something imaginary out of his hand.

“Destroy them”, he concluded.

Seunghee took a step back in order to be as far as possible from the demon. However, her back encountered the bookshelf, stopping her from running away.

“But, of course, you wouldn’t know about that”, Wooyoung mocked the girl, “After all you just became one of them”, Wooyoung sighed while resting his hands on his hips. He looked down at his feet and then up again to Seunghee. He got even closer to her and spoke while softly caressing her face.

“I could teach you so much”, he whispered.

“Enough”, Binnie stopped her familiar.

Wooyoung pouted at Binnie while his hand still rested on Seunghee’s cheek. Binnie furrowed her eyebrows and intensely glared at the demon.

“Just go”, Binnie sighed.

“But I thought you needed my help?”, Wooyoung raised an eyebrow.

“Not anymore. You can go”, Binnie dismissed him with a simple gesture of her hand.

“Whatever.”

Saying that, Wooyoung disappeared with a soft _puff_.

“I truly prefer him when he stays on his dog form”, Binnie murmured.

“I don’t like him”, Seunghee stated.

“He knows that, that’s why he was messing with you”, Binnie explained, “I’m sorry. I really can’t control him well.”

Binnie pouted while placing the book she was holding back in the bookshelf. Seunghee pitied the girl. She was not so good at magic, moreover, she had to deal with that bastard.

“Why did you choose to become a witch?”, Seunghee made the question she was dying to ask.

“It’s a long story…”, Binnie sighed.

“I literally have all the time in the world”, Seunghee smiled.

“Let’s just say it was not my dream job”, Binnie chuckled.

“I can see that”, Seunghee laughed.

“Yeah, I’m not that good at it after all”, Binnie dusted off her dress.

Then she approached one of the armchairs and sat down with a thud. Seunghee went back to her original position and snuggled onto hers.

“You see… As a woman my life had been decided for me from a very young age”, Binnie started.

“Even before I was born, my fate was decided by my parents. ‘If our baby where to be a woman, we will marry her to a man of means’. After I was born, I was promised to a kid. We were to be married when we reached our legal age. He was a year older than me. My mother once told me that we used to play together when we were young, but as he started learning how to read, write and horse riding, we could not meet anymore. I don’t remember those times, but I remembered he was a nice kid. So, I held on to that. That soft smile of his. I wouldn’t call it love; however, I had no choice. After all, I was raised to be a wife. Loving my husband was all that I was fit for. Bearing his children, preparing his meals, cleaning his shoes… That was the destiny my parents had set me for. I don’t blame them. After all, that’s how life was back then”, Binnie took a deep breath before continuing, “The day of my wedding day I was so happy. I thought I was finally going to fulfill my purpose in life. But when I looked in the mirror… I could only see a little girl, my reflection in the mirror was so scared. I told myself I had no other choice but to become his wife, right?”, Binnie gazed into Seunghee’s eyes, “So I walked down the aisle. Then we went back to our new home. I was so nervous to be left alone with him. But he was kind, he still had that sweet smile of his. He treated me well, he made sure I was comfortable. After my maid help me put on my night gown, I headed to our bedroom. My now husband was in front of the bed, waiting for me. I knew what was going to happen”, Binnie’s voice trembled, “My mother… Mother told me what would happen on the wedding night… Still… I was not ready. When I approached him, he hugged me tight and kissed me softly. But, suddenly, he… he…”

“It’s okay, Binnie”, Seunghee assured her, “You don’t have to continue if it’s too much for you.”

Binnie took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly for a second. Then she placed her hand on the base of her neck. Seunghee’s eyes then finally noticed. Binnie was wearing a necklace with a golden ring hanging from it. She closed her hand around it and continued breathing in silence. Seunghee waited for her friend to resume her story.

“He pushed me into the bed and continued kissing me. That’s when I realized that I did not want it. The life that had been planned out for me… I did not want it. I tried to escape my husband’s embrace, but of course he was bigger, stronger… I… I grabbed a nearby candle and threw it at him. While he screamed in pain, I ran. And ran. I ran into the woods to hide. I didn’t know where I was going. Somehow, I encountered Jiho”, Binnie smiled softly, “She took care of me. I knew she was a witch, of course. When I grew up, Jiho asked me if I wanted to become her apprentice. And well, then…”, Binnie left the phrase unfinished.

“You gave your soul to that demon”, Seunghee concluded.

“Exactly. In exchange I got power and immortality. Well, my life is actually linked to his. So, if Wooyoung dies, I’ll die too”, Binnie furthers her explanation.

“That’s shitty”, Seunghee pressed her lips.

“He’s actually nice when you get to know him”, Binnie shrugged, “He just got too much of an attitude.”

“I believe you”, Seunghee snorted.

“You see, Seunghee”, Binnie started drawing circles on her apron, “Wooyoung was right about vampires and demons being two sides of the same coin. It is true that your races exist to destroy the human race. But without them, you would also perish. Demons need human souls to live, and you vampires need their blood. It’s the same for every creature. Fairies and deities need their prayers, werewolves their bodies… Humans might be weak, but they are also necessary. I would like it if you kept that in mind”, Binnie smiled softly at Seunghee.

The vampire was at a loss for words. She did not know how to reply to her friend.

“Why are you telling me that?”, she managed to ask.

“Because some of us, the immortals, become too arrogant”, Binnie explained, “Greed can taint us in many forms, be it money, power, pleasure… Some of us lose sight of who we are…”, Binnie’s gaze was stuck somewhere far away.

“We forget that once we were humans too”, Binnie looked back at Seunghee.

“I see”, the vampire replied.

“We are already going to Hell, as we have distanced ourselves from the righteous and the divine. The least we can do is atone for our sins while we are conscious of them”, Binnie got up from her armchair and headed to the door.

“Are you religious?”, Seunghee asked the girl.

“Not really”, Binnie turned her head around while holding the door open, “But you have to believe in something when you live this long”, she smiled before closing the door behind her.

The conversation left Seunghee deep in thought. There were many things she still had to learn about this new life of hers. She could not imagine what kind of hardships the others had encountered in the past, nor the details of their different circumstances. So far, her life had been very normal, and all these myths were just that… myths. Now she was a living legend, a vampire. She still had a lot to learn, Wooyoung was right about that too. How could she learn thousands of years’ worth of information in just a couple weeks? Of course, there was no way. That moment, she decided to give herself some time, hoping that experience would be the best of teachers. After all, if there was one thing she got for sure, it was time.

※

A week later after the conversation with Binnie, Seunghee was outside the cabin, hanging out the laundry when Mimi came back from another one of her trips.

“Hello”, Mimi greeted Seunghee.

“Welcome back!”, Seunghee smiled.

“Have you guys eaten?”, Mimi asked.

“Yes, but Arin said to leave some for you.”

“Nice”, Mimi entered the house, followed by Seunghee.

“Mimi! You are back!”, Binnie beamed.

“Hi! Where is everyone?”, Mimi wanted to know.

“Jiho is busy studying some ancient enchantment, Hyojung is in the greenhouse with Arin, and Yooa is outside”, Binnie replied.

“Of course, you gotta walk the dog”, Mimi joked.

“Mimi!”, Binnie reprimanded the vampire.

“Yeah, sorry, sorry”, Mimi headed inside the kitchen, “Seunghee would you keep me company while I eat? I have to talk with you.”

“Ah… Yeah, sure”, Seunghee agreed.

She watched as Mimi opened the fridge and took out a tupperware with the lunch leftovers. Without even placing it on a plate, Mimi started eating the poor chicken. Seunghee could see her canines tear up the tender meat.

“As you know, I have been out quite frequently”, Mimi talked while munching.

“Yeah”, Seunghee nodded.

“There was some business I had to take care of”, Mimi explained, “Some of them involve you, but you don’t need to worry about those… yet.”

Seunghee had no clue as to what kind of business Mimi could be talking about nor how they could involve her in any way, but she still nodded.

“I wanted to know… Have you experience you know…”, Mimi gave a significant look to Seunghee.

“Ah!”, Seunghee understood quickly, “Not really. At least, I don’t think so.”

“That’s weird…”, Mimi muttered.

“What? Why?”, Seunghee asked.

“I mean”, Mimi scratched the back of her neck, “You should have been thirsty by now. Of course, it’s different for everyone, but still… You can’t be surviving on adrenaline only for so long.”

“I don’t know”, Seunghee shrugged, “I have never been a vampire before, you know?”

“I know, I know”, Mimi rolled her eyes, “Anyway, I’ll stick around you just in case.”

“It’s okay, Mimi”, Seunghee assured her, “You don’t have to worry so much. When it happens, I’ll just tell you.”

Mimi laughed. Her laugh was beautiful, Seunghee thought.

“Aren’t you too full of yourself?”, Mimi asked Seunghee.

“What?”

“Well, you don’t know what being blood-thirsty feels like, after all”, Mimi continued eating her chicken.

“You are being so enigmatic about it doesn’t help me figure it out”, Seunghee muttered.

“Yeah, sorry about that”, Mimi apologized, “It’s just very hard to explain.”

“Sure”, Seunghee was pissed now, “Is that all?”

“Mm”, Mimi munched.

“Then, I’ll be off”, Seunghee turned around.

“Wait!”, Mimi stopped her, “Have you been adapting well? Is there something I can help you with?”

“Everyone is nice so, it’s okay”, Seunghee smiled.

“That’s nice”, Mimi nodded.

Seunghee was about to leave the room when a question flashed through her mind. She faced the other vampire once again.

“Mimi, by the way… Is it true the thing with crucifixes?”, she posed it.

“Ah! That…”, Mimi stopped herself from taking another bite of chicken, “Actually, is not only crucifixes. Any religious symbol can harm us. After all, it comes from a God or whatever, right? I wouldn’t recommend having someone recite the Koran to you, it stings.”

“Then… what about Hyojung? She is a deity, right?”, Seunghee tilted her head. 

“Ah, yeah, but… I don’t know about that…”, Mimi made a confused face, “I have never thought about it…”

“Well, it’s okay. Thank you. I’ll stay away from anything religious related”, Seunghee smiled at the vampire.

“Yeah, specially avoid angels”, Mimi warned her.

“Angels exist?”, Seunghee opened her eyes wide.

“Unfortunately, they do. And they are a pain in the ass, so, stay away from them”, Mimi pointed at her with the fork she was holding.

“Roger that”, Seunghee agreed before exiting the kitchen.

For the next weeks, Mimi stuck around the house to keep an eye on Seunghee as promised. However, she was more of a nuisance to Seunghee than helpful. Each day asking her how she felt and if she felt anything that could possibly resemble being blood thirsty. Seunghee had catched her and Hyojung whispering a couple times but stopping when she made her presence known to them. They were more than likely talking about her and debating about Seunghee’s apparently nonexistent bloodthirst.

Seunghee herself had been paying attention to her body and trying to listen to it in some way, but either she was deaf to its needs or her body mute, because she did not feel a thing. Of course, she was worried about the fact of not being blood-thirsty, but unlike the others, she did not see a problem with it and just went around her day as usual. She had started hanging around the potion room with Binnie. Jiho did not like it one bit, as it distracted her pupil, but Seunghee had quickly found out that Mimi deliberately avoided the potion room, most likely because the smell inside was too strong for a vampire to handle. Seunghee would not be able to handle it herself if she were not so focused on hiding from Mimi. Sacrifices must be made. Besides, it was quite fun spending time with Binnie. She was cute.

Binnie was always trying new potions and enchantments. Seunghee had grew fond of the way the witch furrowed her eyebrows while choosing the right herbs, and how she pouted while stirring the cauldron. On the first tries, it always went wrong and Seunghee noticed Binnie had a habit of biting her lips when the experiment of the day started to ruin itself. She pranced around the room, throwing more and more ingredients, or whispering more Latin verses in hopes it would revive her attempt, but it only made it worse. Binnie was really not the best witch in the world, but she was the most hard working one for sure. Seunghee would bet her life on it. She definitely did not know how to give up, and that somehow moved Seunghee.

One of the lazy evenings inside the potion room, Seunghee was reading some herb book in the corner while Binnie stirred something in a pot. The vampire had noticed a burning smell some minutes ago, but she stayed quiet in order not to distract her friend, hoping both that it was part of the recipe or that her friend would notice in time. The slight smell became stronger quickly, and Seunghee bunked the first theory quickly when the witch started cursing and turned out the stove.

“You okay?”, Seunghee asked her.

Binnie nodded in silence while staring at the pot blankly. Then she heaved a sigh and crouched on the floor, defeated. Seunghee quickly stood up and approached her friend. She kneeled by her side and caressed her back trying to cheer her up.

“Don’t get sulky. It’s just a stupid potion”, Seunghee told her.

“I am the only stupid one here”, Binnie hid her face behind her hands.

“What?”, Seunghee raised her voice, “No!”

“But I can’t even do the most basic of potions”, Binnie looked at Seunghee with sad eyes.

“So?”, Seunghee raised an eyebrow, “That doesn’t make you stupid.”

“But Jiho…”

Binnie started her phrase but was completely cut by the sound of a closing door.

“What happened in here?”, Jiho’s voice was higher than normal.

Binnie stood up right and Seunghee quickly followed after. Jiho stared at the two of them, expecting an answer.

“I messed up again”, Binnie lowered her head ashamed.

Jiho sighed and approached the cauldron behind the girls. The liquid inside was an ill looking shade of greyish green. Jiho stirred it a little and bubbles softly exploded on its surface.

“Yeah… definitely…”, Jiho agreed.

“I’m sorry”, Binnie whispered.

“It’s okay, Binnie”, Jiho patted the witch’s head.

“But… but I always mess up”, Binnie lifted her head and Seunghee could see tears forming on her eyes.

“So?”, Jiho smiled reassuringly, “That’s how you learn.”

“That’s right”, Seunghee nodded fervently.

“But Jiho… you are so good… I could never…”, Binnie sniffled.

Jiho burst out laughing. Seunghee was taken aback by the sound. It was pretty, like birds singing. Binnie stared at her teacher in shock. It was written on her face that she could not believe that Jiho was laughing at her.

“First of all, Binnie, you should never compare yourself to others”, Jiho finally said, “And second, you really think I was born with all the knowledge I have now? I started practicing witchcraft almost 500 years before you did. You think I was this good when I started?”, Jiho chuckled, “My mother used to…”, the witch abruptly stopped herself, living a confused look on both of the girls’ faces. Jiho hawked before continuing: “My point is, I only got to this level with practice. That’s the only way, after all.”

Binnie nodded in understanding.

“Thank you for your encouragement”, she smiled while brushing off her tears.

“No problem”, Jiho smiled back, “I’ll clean this, you can go now.”

“But…”, Binnie lifter her finger.

“No buts”, Jiho replied, “Just go get some fresh air.”

Seunghee gently pushed Binnie towards the door. The witch was a little reluctant to leave Jiho all the cleaning, but she quickly accepted it was the best she could do at the moment. Seunghee closed the door behind them softly and went down the stairs while followed by a still sulky Binnie. Already outside, Binnie breathed in the humid air.

“Should we go for a walk?”, Seunghee suggested.

“I would love that”, Binnie smiled a little.

With that they entered the forest. Even if she was still not familiar with the environment, Seunghee led the way. Behind her, Binnie walked slowly.

“You know we planted some of these beeches?”, the girl broke the silence with a soft whisper.

“Beeches?”, Seunghee turned around to look at her friend.

“The trees”, Binnie chuckled.

“Oh”, Seunghee looked up to the sky. It was almost impossible to see it because of the trees’ dense crown, but it was slowly turning a soft orange color.

“The sun is setting”, Seunghee muttered.

“I want to show you something before it’s too dark”, Binnie suddenly announced.

“Sure”, Seunghee agreed.

Binnie passed Seunghee, leaving her scent in the air and making the vampire hyperaware of the witch. She smelled like the potion room, but it was way nicer. Under all the combined herb aromas, Seunghee could smell something sweet, perhaps vanilla scented perfume. Also the humidity of the air had adhered to Binnie, adding another layer of richness to her natural fragrance. Overall, Seunghee could only think that the girl smelled nice. Maybe too nice.

“You coming”, Binnie asked a still wondering Seunghee.

Seunghee nodded and followed suit. Stepping on some fern branches, they strolled through the forest for some time.

“We are here”, Binnie stopped with a smile and pointed in front of her.

Pushing aside a low branch, Binnie entered what looked like a clear. In the center of it, there was a pond. The whole place was covered in moss because of the high humidity, making the ground appear as soft as a pillow. Binnie approached the water and dipped her hand inside.

“It’s cold”, she removed it as fast as lighting.

“Of course it would be”, Seunghee laughed.

Binnie sat down close to the edge and patted the moss next to her, inviting the vampire to by her side. Seunghee gladly approached the witch and sat down. She observed the pond in silence, lost in her own thoughts. At some point, Binnie started humming some song while the sun, or more exactly, the lack of it, tinted the skies a navy color. Timidly, the moon started to shine, illuminating the clearance. However, the pond seemed to sparkle with its own light, as if reflecting the moonbeam with a blue tone.

“Wow”, Seunghee muttered impressed.

“Beautiful, right?”, Binnie asked.

“How?”, Seunghee looked at her friend.

Binnie’s face was half in shadows, but Seunghee could still see it clearly. She was gazing at the pond, looking without seeing.

“It’s bioluminescent plankton”, the witch explained, “Jiho likes it a lot, also it can be used as an ingredient in some potions, so she brought it all the way from America.”

“Isn’t that like species invasion?”, Seunghee raised an eyebrow.

“You could say so”, Binnie shrugged, “Anyway, it’s controlled.”

“I see…”, Seunghee stopped midsentence as she heard some leaves crunching behind them.

The vampire quickly turned around to check their surroundings but could not find anything.

“Must be a squirrel”, Binnie dismissed the sound with a gesture of her hand.

The crunching continued; this time stronger. And closer.

“There aren’t any squirrels that big”, Seunghee quickly got up.

The crunching intensified but changed its direcition. It was coming from the other side of the pond now. Seunghee forced herself to distinguish something in the distance, but even for her and her upgraded vision, nothing seemed to show. Whatever it was causing the noise, was really good at hiding.

“Is someone there?”, Seunghee mustered up the courage to ask.

The only response she got was silence. The girls waited for a couple seconds, but nothing happened.

“We should go”, Binnie concluded.

“Go? Already?”, a voice echoed in the clear.

Seunghee looked around her, trying to find the source. However, it turned out impossible to track it.

“Who are you?”, Seunghee insisted.

“Ah, right! Where are my manners?”, a figure entered the clear.

The man had black curly hair and was wearing an almost creepy smile on his face. He was wearing a black tank top, probably trying to show off his biceps. When the moon light shone upon him, Binnie gasped. Seunghee had seen it too. The guy had red eyes.

“A demon”, Binnie whispered.

Seunghee gulped down. After meeting Wooyoung, she was not very keen of their kind.

“Who are you?”, Seunghee repeated the question.

Slowly, she made sure Binnie was behind her. If the guy did not have good intentions, Seunghee should be the one confronting him. After all, she was stronger than the witch. Also, she did not like the idea of Binnie getting hurt one bit.

“Which name would you prefer?”, the man smirked, “The formal one? The long one? The short one? Or the cool one?”

Seunghee already wanted to punch the guy.

“Whichever”, Seunghee rolled her eyes.

“I’ll go with the formal then”, the demon concluded, “I’m Christopher.”

“Okay, Christopher, nice to meet you”, Seunghee said, “How can we help you?”

Christopher laughed like a maniac. Seunghee could feel Binnie tensing up behind her. The demon was not only a pain, also fucking crazy apparently.

“I don’t need any help”, Christopher replied, “I just wanna talk.”

“About what?”, Binnie talked.

“I have an offer”, the man simply explained.

“What kind of offer?”, Seunghee pressed.

“WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY?”, the demon shouted causing the girls to flinch, “I am not talking to you, filthy vampire.”

“Excuse me?”, Seunghee felt attacked.

“I came to talk with the witch lady”, Christopher smiled softly as if he did just not scream just seconds before.

The guy was mental.

“I already have a familiar. I don’t want to make any other pact”, Binnie’s voice was shaking when she talked.

“Oh but… I don’t want to be your familiar”, Christopher explained, “I just came to offer you a way of becoming stronger.”

“I don’t need it, thank you”, Binnie insisted.

“What? You really think you will get on your master’s level with practice?”, the guy snorted.

“That’s the only way”, Binnie defended herself.

The demon laughed again. This time the guffaws were so intense, he placed a hand on his stomach and bended forward.

“You really believe what Jiho said?”, the guy asked while whipping a tear away.

“How do you know her name?”, Seunghee asked.

“I know many things about her”, Christopher replied mysteriously, “And one of them is that she definitely didn’t become so good with _practice_ ”, the demon said the word with a mocking tone.

“But…”, Binnie tried to come up with another excuse.

“But but but but but but but but but but but BUT”, the demon rambled, “You don’t want to become powerful, Binnie? You want to be a useless witch your whole immortal life? A clumsy, stupid, useless witch?”, Christopher’s tone raised with every phrase.

The demon disappeared in a smoke cloud and reappeared right beside Binnie, who was on the verge of tears.

“I could help you overcome that”, Christopher’s voice was silky when he leaned on Binnie’s ears, “I could help you become the most powerful enchantress in the world…”

“I thought the lady had already refused”, a familiar voice interrupted the conversation.

Seunghee surprised herself feeling happy to see Wooyoung sitting on a tree branch, casually fixing his hair on a small pocket mirror.

“Ah! Wooyoung! Long time no see”, Christopher greeted Binnie’s familiar.

“A pleasure to see you, Chan”, Wooyoung jumped off the tree. A good three meters.

“Why are you pestering these ladies?”, Wooyoung raised an eyebrow while approaching the bunch.

“You see, I am trying to convince this pretty girl here”, the demon explained.

“Yeah, I see that. But she already said no. A couple times at that”, Wooyoung insisted.

“You know how women are, Wooyoung”, Christopher chuckled, “They say no when they mean yes. You just have to insist a little… You are an expert at that, aren’t you?”

“You could say so…”, Wooyoung sighed, “However, I know how to deal with rejection.”

“You? Rejected?”, the other man snorted, “I can’t picture that!”

“Believe it or not… There’s a certain guy that won’t give in…”, Wooyoung complained.

“I thought you knew how to deal with rejection?”, Chan raised an eyebrow.

“I do”, Wooyoung nodded, “But I try again every couple decade. Just in case.”

“That’s a nice tactic”, Chan acknowledged.

“I know right?”, Wooyoung smiled broadly, “Maybe you should try it for yourself.”

Wooyoung’s face got serious again and he glared at the other demon. For a second, an intense staring contest took place in the clear. However, the enchantment was broken by another one of Chan’s fit of hysteric laughter.

“But you must have guessed with that telepathy of yours, right?”, Christopher smirked, “I just can’t give up this time…”

“Then I’ll force you”, Wooyoung clenched his teeth menacingly.

Seunghee gulped down. She could only watch the scene before her, not knowing how to put a stop to it. The vampire just wanted to take Binnie to a safe place, far away from those two freaks. Seunghee thought about grabbing Binnie and just running back to the house. She was sure she could carry her all the way there before the demons could even blink. From the corner of her eye she saw Wooyoung gesture something at her. Moving his index side to side, he was trying to dissuade her. He must have been reading her mind. Seunghee wondered why he would be against her plan, but just that moment, Binnie spoke.

“Enough!”, she shouted.

The two men and Seunghee stared at her in shock.

“You guys think I don’t have a saying in all this?”, Binnie cried out.

“Binnie, sweetie…”, Christopher shushed her.

“Don’t give me that bullshit!”, the witch replied.

“Binnie, you shouldn’t…”, Seunghee started, but Binnie cut her.

“Stop! Stop telling me what to do!”, Binnie glared at Seunghee, “And you!”, she pointed at Chan, “Stop telling me what to want! You know nothing about me!”

“But…”, Christopher tried to persuade her once more.

“No fucking buts”, Binnie cut him abruptly.

Seunghee opened her eyes wide in shock. She could not believe Binnie was able to swear. However, it made something twist inside of her. What? She had no clue.

“My whole life, everyone told me what I should do, what I should want, who I should become”, Binnie had tears on her eyes, but her glare was powerful, “I am no longer someone you can use freely as a tool. I am a witch. And I will fucking burn you down if you try to impose on me.”

“Burn me down?”, Christopher chuckled, “That’s funny. You plan on burning down a fire demon?”

A tiny dancing flame appeared on the palm of his hand. Wooyoung quickly jumped in between Binnie and the demon.

“So protective!”, Chan cooed and then grinned creepily.

He rose his other hand and faced it towards Wooyoung.

“Seunghee!”, Wooyoung screamed.

The vampire knew what to do. She grabbed Binnie and pushed her to the ground. Christopher flared his fire at Wooyoung, who tried to avoid it.

“Binnie! Do it!”, Wooyoung shouted while landing a punch on the other demon’s face.

Binnie nodded and got up. She started drawing a circle on the floor and sat inside.

“You fucking…”, Chan cursed.

“Seunghee, get in the circle!”, Binnie ordered the vampire.

Without hesitation, Seunghee sat next to the witch who started chanting something she could not understand.

“ _Regna terrae, cantata Deo, psallite Cernunnos,_

As she talked, the circle she had drawn on the ground, started lighting up.

“What is happening?”, Seunghee asked.

“Don’t distract her!”, Wooyoung reprimand her.

_Regna terrae, cantata Dea psallite Aradia._

_Caeli Deus, Deus terrae,_

_Humiliter majestati gloriae tuae supplicamus_

The light around them started to build up, as if it were trying to create a barrier between them and the fighting duo.

_Ut ab omni infernalium spirituum potestate,_

Chan was firing in all directions, covering the trees surrounding them without burning them. Wooyoung tried his best to avoid the fire, but the other was too fast. He managed to land a couple blows on Binnie’s familiar before he could even blink.

_Laqueo, and deceptione nequitia,_

_Omnis fallaciae, libera nos, dominates._

Binnie went on with her chanting undauntedly. Seunghee noticed that sweat was running all over the girl’s face, but she kept on staring at Christopher. The vampire had no idea of what she was doing, but whatever it was, it was directed towards the demon.

_Exorcizamus you omnis immundus spiritus_

_Omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio,_

_Infernalis adversarii, omnis legio,_

_Omnis and congregatio secta diabolica._

The light barrier had grown in size and brilliance, it was almost blinding in the dark night.

_Ab insidiis diaboli, libera nos, dominates,_

_Ut coven tuam secura tibi libertate servire facias,_

_Te rogamus, audi nos!_

Chan tried to attack Wooyoung once again but failed and fell to the ground. He started writhing himself. He was in pain, Seunghee could tell.

“You are doing great”, she encouraged the witch.

_Ut inimicos sanctae circulae humiliare digneris,_

_Te rogamus, audi nos!_

Binnie’s voice was like a cry, and it was hurting the demon.

_Terribilis Deus Sanctuario suo,_

_Cernunnos ipse truderit virtutem plebi Suae,_

_Aradia ipse fortitudinem plebi Suae_.

Christopher had managed to get up and had fired again against Wooyoung. The familiar took the blow and fell to the ground on his back with a loud thud.

“Wooyoung!”, Seunghee worried about him.

The man struggled to get up as he was badly hurt and the other took the chance and sat on top of him, impeding him from getting up. Chan raised his hand and pointed at Wooyoung’s face, who was struggling to get the man off him.

_Benedictus Deus, Gloria Patri,_

Wooyoung managed to kick the guy and pushed him to the side. Chan tried to get up once again, but he was too slow.

_Benedictus Dea,_

“NOO!”, the demon shouted.

 _MATRI GLORIA!_ ”

Binnie finished her spell with a scream.

“You will regret this…”, Chan spoke before disintegrating right in front of their eyes.

Like that, the demon was gone.

The light barrier slowly disappeared.

“Binnie! You did it!”, Seunghee beamed.

The witch was breathing heavily, sweat shining on her forehead.

“She’s gonna faint”, Wooyoung was suddenly by the girls side.

“Wooyoung, are you okay?”, Seunghee asked him.

The guy looked bad. He was bleeding a deep shade of red out his forehead and his lips were all swollen. Seunghee did not dare to imagine how the rest of his body, hidden under his dark clothes, was injured.

“It’s already healing, don’t worry”, Wooyoung reassured her, “I’ll take her back home.”

“What? I’m fast! I’ll take her”, Seunghee insisted.

“You cannot run faster than I shadow travel”, Wooyoung sighed, “If you had tried to escape with Binnie like you intended, Chan would have catched up to you before you knew what was going on.”

“I see”, the vampire bit her lip.

“I’ll see you there in a bit.”

Saying that, Wooyoung carried Binnie princess style and disappeared with a puff. Seunghee herself started running towards the cabin, not remembering the way back, she tried tracing Binnie’s scent back to the house. Vanilla, vanilla… A moment later, she rushed through the door and met the chaos of the living room.

Jiho was frantically preparing some potion while Hyojung chanted some verses towards Binnie, who was lying on the dining table with her eyes closed and shaking.

“What’s happening?”, Seunghee approached the demon who was watching over the witch.

“She overdid herself with that exorcism, so now it’s payback time”, Wooyoung muttered.

“What does that mean?”, Seunghee asked.

“Basically, she needed more power than what she has, so she had to force her maximum capacity. First, she has to heal and then recharge herself”, Wooyoung tried to explain in a way Seunghee could understand.

“Is she okay?”, Seunghee looked at the girl on the table.

“Don’t worry, Hyojung is the best at healing enchantments”, Arin suddenly appeared by Seunghee’s side.

“That’ll definitely help her”, Wooyoung grabbed his lip and stared at Binnie with worried eyes.

“But what the heck happened exactly?”, Mimi raised her voice.

“I don’t know! A fucking crazy demon suddenly appeared and started talking about power and then…”, Seunghee pointed at the mess currently going on in the room.

“It was Chan”, Wooyoung said out loud, “Bang Chan.”

Wooyoung stared at Jiho who was silently stirring the pot which, presumably, contained a healing potion. Seunghee did not know what was going on, but she clearly remembered the demon mentioning the witch. However, she did not want to stir anything while Jiho was trying to treat Binnie. After all, her friend’s safety was her first priority. There would be time for interrogation later.

“Wooyoung”, Hyojung gently called the demon.

“Yeah?”, he approached the deity.

“I think she needs some of your energy”, Hyojung explained.

“Sure”, Wooyoung nodded and placed a hand on top of Binnie’s forehead.

A deem purple toned light started to float from Wooyoung’s palm towards Binnie. After a couple seconds, Binnie’s expression relaxed. She looked as if she was having a wonderful dream. Wooyoung smiled softly at her, relieved. Could he read dreams too?

Jiho approached the sleeping girl with a glass of a pink looking liquid. It smelled nice, like roses and lavender. Seunghee would bet there was also honey in the mix. The witch carefully raised Binnie’s head and forced her to gulp the potion. After having it, Binnie looked even more at peace.

“She will sleep for a couple days”, Jiho announced.

“Let’s move her to her room”, Hyojung decided.

Wooyoung once again grabbed the girl and disappeared on thin air. Seunghee ran up the stairs to the first floor, where Binnie’s room was, right in front of the potion room. Wooyoung was carefully placing the witch on the bed and covering her as the vampire watched from the door.

Then, both of them proceeded to observe the sleeping girl. She breathed in and out slowly, her finger intertwined with each other on top of her chest. Binnie looked so peaceful.

“She did a great job”, Wooyoung spoke.

“I’m not sure about what she did, but I could tell it was amazing”, Seunghee agreed.

“Performing an exorcism in such a powerful demon like Chan… The girl has guts”, Wooyoung chuckled.

“You knew him”, Seunghee stated.

“Yes”, Wooyoung nodded, “He’s a long acquaintance of mine… and Jiho’s.”

“What’s the deal with Jiho and that guy?”, Seunghee interrogated the demon.

“It’s not my place to talk about that”, Wooyoung simply shrugged.

“Binnie fainted!”, Seunghee insisted.

“Still”, Wooyoung clenched his teeth.

“Whatever”, Seunghee grabbed a chair from Binnie’s desk and sat down.

“What are you doing?”, Wooyoung wondered.

“Waiting for her to wake up?”, Seunghee replied as if it was obvious.

Wooyoung opened his mouth to reply and then laughed.

“What?”, Seunghee pressed him.

“You really like her, don’t you?”, Wooyoung asked.

“She’s my friend”, Seunghee responded.

“Sure, sure. You are so oblivious to your own feelings”, Wooyoung waved his hand.

“Feelings? We are friends”, Seunghee insisted.

“Yeah, _friends_ ”, Wooyoung mocked the vampire.

Seunghee blew air out her nose angrily. Wooyoung tried to hide his laughter, this time successfully.

“Anyway, I’ll get back to the Demon Realm”, Wooyoung announced, “I’ll heal and head back.”

“Sure”, Seunghee was pissed off.

“See you”, Wooyoung bid the vampire farewell.

※

Seunghee had stayed by Binnie’s side the whole time while the witch had her healing nap, so it was no surprise that the first word that Binnie spoke when waking up was the vampire’s name.

“Seunghee”, Binnie called the girl.

The vampire hurried to her side.

“Binnie”, Seunghee said the witch’s name softly.

“What happened?”, Binnie asked.

“You fainted”, Seunghee explained.

“Did I do it?”, Binnie grabbed Seunghee’s hand.

Seunghee’s skin burnt where Binnie was touching her. Ever since she had become a vampire, she had not touch anyone directly, so the feeling surprised her.

“You did great”, Seunghee responded while patting the girl’s head.

“Sorry for worrying you”, Binnie muttered.

“It’s okay”, Seunghee assured her, “You are okay now. That’s all that matters.”

“Thank you”, Binnie whispered.

“No, thank _you_ , Binnie. You saved our lives”, Seunghee insisted.

“What? N-no, I-I just…”, Binnie blushed.

“You sure did”, Seunghee smiled.

She tightly held the witch’s hand and gazed into her eyes. Binnie blushed even more and averted Seunghee’s stare. Right that moment, the door cracked open. Seunghee turned around to see Yooa at the door.

“Why do I feel like I interrupted something?”, the girl muttered.

“Yooa!”, Seunghee greeted the werewolf.

“I’ll inform Hyojung that she woke up”, she simply replied.

“Thanks”, Binnie said.

“Sure”, Yooa disappeared into the corridor.

Seunghee looked right back at the witch. She was trying to sit on the bed, but she was still too weak. Seunghee stood up to help her and placed a pillow on her back for Binnie’s comfort.

“Thank you”, she smiled.

“No problem”, Seunghee replied.

“How are you feeling?”, Hyojung entered the room.

“Good. Tired”, Binnie answered.

“Seunghee, you can go now”, Jiho said while approaching the bed.

“Yes, you should rest”, Hyojung insisted.

“Ah… Yeah”, Seunghee looked at Binnie once again.

The girl grabbed the vampire’s hand again and softly tightened her grasp, sending shivers down Seunghee’s spine. The burning sensation left the girl speechless once again. She felt her throat go dry when Binnie let go of her hand. Binnie thanked Seunghee once again and the vampire left the room in silence. She headed up the stairs to her room and threw herself on the bed. Looking up to the ceiling, she lifted the hand Binnie had held and stared at it. The sensation still lingered. Seunghee touched her own hand, but, even if she could feel her own fingertips on her skin, there was no trace of the burning sensation she felt when Binnie touched her. Seunghee held the hand close to her heart and quickly fell asleep like that.

※

A soft vanilla scent woke Seunghee up. She slowly opened her eyes to see a familiar figure standing right by her bed. Binnie leaned closer and whispered the vampire’s name. Her velvety voice woke something inside Seunghee. She could feel her stomach warming up. Then… a simple touch on the face: Binnie pressing her cheek. That is all it took.

The next thing Seunghee knew was that she was on top of Binnie, pressing her body to the bed.

“Seunghee! Stop!”, Binnie was screaming.

Seunghee did not want to hurt her, but she had no control over her body. She felt her canines pinching her lower lip, begging her mouth to open. Seunghee tried to resist the urge, but it was too much. Everything was on fire inside her body. Fighting against it hurt.

Seunghee opened her mouth non-willingly and leaned closer to the witch. She could feel it, the other’s pounding heart. It was sending blood in all directions. Blood.

Bloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodbloodblood.

Seunghee’s mind was fixated. She needed it. Binnie’s blood. It was right there. She wanted it. Binnie.

“MIMI!”, the witch shouted.

Seunghee was about to bite Binnie when she felt a hand grabbing her shoulder. Quickly, she was pushed to the floor. She tried to resist the other’s strength but soon another person was pressing her down.

“We barely made it!”, Wooyoung struggled to hold the thirsty vampire.

“Yooa! Help Wooyoung while I grab the blood”, Mimi shouted.

“Don’t order me around”, Yooa complained while sitting on Seunghee’s back.

She was heavy. So heavy. Seunghee could not move at all. Mimi quickly came back with some bags filled with blood. She waved them in front of Seunghee’s face, making her lose her mind even more. She could only think about one thing: blood.

“Which type would you like?”, Mimi offered, “Personally, I think AB+ is delicious, but B- is so sweet…”

“Just give her a fucking bag!”, Yooa screamed.

“Binnie”, Seunghee drooled.

“Binnie, what’s your blood type?”, Mimi asked the witch.

“There are blood types?”, Binnie was on top of the bed, not daring coming down until Seunghee calmed down.

“Ah right! You were born way before they were discovered”, Mimi pouted, “Anyway, based on your personality, I would say you are a A+ so…”

“Binnie is definitely O type!”, Wooyoung disagreed.

“How are you so sure?”, Mimi lifted an eyebrow.

“I’m her familiar!”, Wooyoung snorted, “I know everything about her!”

“For fuck’s sake! Why does it matter? Just feed her whatever”, Yooa groaned.

“Then, here have the O type”, Mimi shoved the bag in Seunghee’s mouth.

“Why would you give her Binnie’s type? That’s messed up”, Wooyoung sighed.

Mimi shrugged and watched as Seunghee drank avidly from the bag.

“Look at her, covering herself in blood”, she cooed.

“You are disgusting”, Yooa decided.

Seunghee was making a mess. Drinking upside down was not easy, but having a werewolf sitting on your back did not help. She could not believe how heavy the girl was, even if she looked like she could not weight anything more than 60 kilos.

“She thinks you are fat”, Wooyoung snorted.

“What?”, Yooa exclaimed, “That’s because wolves are heavy you idiot!”

“Is that why you are such a bottom?”, Mimi tilted her head.

Wooyoung started laughing like crazy while Binnie opened her eyes wide in shock. Even Seunghee stopped gulping down her blood bag at the comment.

“What the fuck, Mimi?”, Yooa slowly said.

“I just wonder…”, she shrugged.

“You are unbelievable”, Yooa stood up, liberating the poor vampire under her.

Seunghee breathed in some air and sat down to continue drinking her blood.

“It’s just a question? No need to flare up that much!”, Mimi replied.

“Don’t talk to me”, Yooa exited the room.

“You should learn how to take a joke!”, Mimi shouted as the girl had already left.

“You feeling better?”, Binnie asked Seunghee.

The vampire finished her blood, and, with a full stomach, realization dawned on her. She looked at Binnie and opened and closed her mouth multiple times, not knowing what to say.

“I’m so sorry”, she blurted.

“It’s okay”, Binnie forgave her.

“I could have killed you”, Seunghee insisted.

“That’s why I told you to inform me”, Mimi hit Seunghee on the top of her head.

“But I felt nothing!”, Seunghee replied.

“What do you mean nothing?”, Mimi lifted an eyebrow.

“What was I supposed to feel anyway?”, Seunghee asked.

“Well… It’s different for every vampire”, Mimi explained, “For me, I have a strong headache and my stomach hurts. Very much like when I used to have my period.”

“Your period?”, Seunghee was confused.

“Oh no, please don’t start the period talk”, Wooyoung begged.

“You see, there’s a reason why only women can become vampires”, Mimi started.

“Only women can become vampires? And the reason is periods?”, Seunghee furrowed her eyebrows.

“Yes and no”, Mimi sighed, “You know who the first vampire was?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“She was Lilith”, Mimi said.

Seunghee was even more confused.

“Who is that?”, she ventured.

“What? You don’t even know that? It’s basic!”, Wooyoung criticized the young vampire.

“Some of us weren’t around when the human race was created, you know?”, Mimi joked.

“I’m not that old!”, Wooyoung defended himself.

“Is that a white hair?”, Binnie exclaimed.

“What? No! Demons don’t grow white hairs!”, Wooyoung said as a matter-of-fact, but he still checked himself on the pocket mirror he seemed to always carry around.

“Anyway”, Mimi got back to the topic, “Vampires come from Lilith, Adam’s very first wife.”

“Wait… you mean to tell me… that creationism is real?”, Seunghee snorted.

“What creationism? I don’t fucking know. I was not alive. None was. Was it the Greek gods, the Christians, the Egyptians? None knows. As a matter of fact, the human comes from the monkey and all that too. It’s all real but it’s also very confusing, so please don’t try to understand it”, Mimi replied.

“Does that mean God, like… the Christian God… exists?”, Seunghee’s eyes were about to scape her face.

“Yes, they do. And they is a petty bitch”, Wooyoung confirmed.

“You just called God a bitch”, Seunghee stated.

“And I’d do it again!”, Wooyoung lifted his chin.

“My point is!”, Mimi tried to control a very much confusing conversation, “Since women are the only ones that can be vampires, the same way only men can become demons…”

“Then, what are angels?”, Seunghee asked.

“I doubt you can define them by the human binary. To be honest, at this point, I don’t think they have _anything_ down there”, Wooyoung responded.

“Who in this room wants to hear about Wooyoung’s sexual life?”, Binnie posed.

None lifted their hand.

“You are just jealous I fucked a dragon”, Wooyoung acted petty.

“You had sex with a dragon?”, Seunghee and Mimi shouted.

“In his human form, but yeah”, Wooyoung shrugged, “It was pretty dope, like his body was…”

“Enough!”, Binnie stopped the demon.

“You better tell me all about that later”, Mimi insisted.

“Sure”, Wooyoung beamed.

“Anyways!”, Binnie pressed Mimi to continue.

“Ah! Right!”, she got back on track, “So when we are blood-thirsty we experience symptoms that are close to what the premenstrual syndrome feels like: headaches, stomachaches, tiredness, the infamous mood changes… All that jazz.”

“But I felt nothing like that”, Seunghee explained.

“That’s so weird…”, Mimi caressed her chin.

“Why?”, Seunghee asked.

“Because everyone gets the symptoms. No exception”, Mimi insisted.

“But I didn’t”, Seunghee pressed.

“Enough”, Wooyoung stopped the duo, “This is starting to feel like a tennis match, and I hate tennis. Besides, I haven’t butted in your conversation in a while so I’m getting bored”, Mimi opened her mouth to talk but Wooyoung put a finger on her lips to shut her up, “The point is, vampires are supposed to feel some kind of symptoms before they go on a virgin lesbian killing rampage, right? But Seunghee here hasn’t felt those symptoms. So, in my wise opinion, either your information about vampire periods is wrong, or Seunghee is an exception.”

“Then… I should get going”, Mimi stood up.

“What? You just returned”, Binnie pouted.

“Where are you going now?”, Seunghee wondered.

“I have to find an explanation”, Mimi headed towards the room door.

With that, she exited the space, leaving an utterly confused and diverse bunch of myths behind. Binnie was the one to break the silence.

“Anyways… Seunghee, you should take a shower”, Binnie suggested.

Seunghee’s attention went back to herself and her bloody-covered body, clothes and just everything around her.

“That… would be nice”, Seunghee agreed.

“Then… I’ll get going”, Wooyoung announced.

“No, you won’t. Help me clean the room”, Binnie ordered her familiar.

“Am I your servant?”, Wooyoung posed.

“Shut up, Woonderella”, Binnie got down from the bed.

“Did you just make a Disney reference?”, Seunghee chuckled.

“Who is Disney?”, Binnie asked, “I thought his name was Perrault? I read the story some centuries ago.”

“Never mind her, Binniebin”, Wooyoung patted the witch’s shoulder.

“Stop the nicknames”, Binnie sighed.

Seunghee chuckled and headed to her room’s bathroom. She may have all the time in the world, but truly, there was not a boring instant in the household.


	2. Jiho

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mimi is gone, and Seunghee's curiousity has to be saciated as much as her desire for blood. Will she be able to find the secret garden and help the two lost souls that await her there?

Ever since the bloodthirst incident, Seunghee took it upon her to keep herself “hydrated”. After talking about it with Hyojung, since Mimi had once again disappeared to some unknown place, Seunghee decided to drink a glass of fresh blood a week, just in case. After drinking it, Seunghee felt always revitalized, as if a boost of adrenaline was running through her veins, causing her to be restless and hectic during the day. She would use her extra energy to do chores around the house. The rest of the girls truly appreciated it, since it meant less chores for them. However, Hyojung was not a fan.

“Yooa, you are getting too comfortable since Seunghee is so active”, she reprimanded the werewolf at some point.

The girl was playing some videogame while screaming at the screen.

“Hyojung, not now. I am almost done destroying the Nexus”, Yooa furrowed her eyebrows.

“I shouldn’t have agreed to purchasing that damned inside net”, Hyojung murmured.

“You mean the Internet?”, Yooa snorted while taking her eyes off the screen for a second.

“Whatever! The Net!”, Hyojung raised up her arms.

“FUCK YES”, Yooa suddenly shouted, “Suck it up, Juyeon! We won!”

“If you are going to play with your pack, then you should just be with them!”, the deity could not believe Yooa’s audacity.

“But you don’t like them being here”, the werewolf pouted.

“Because there is like 20 of them”, Arin intervened.

“Actually 24, including myself”, Yooa pointed out.

“And the only one that knows how to behave is Miyeon!”, Hyojung insisted.

“You say that because you haven’t seen her when she’s drunk”, Yooa took off her headphones. 

“My point is!”, Hyojung pinched the bridge of her nose, “They don’t even live that far away. Why can’t you go be with them instead of causing a ruckus in the living room?”

“You don’t like me being here?”, Yooa furrowed her eyebrows.

“That is not what I said”, Hyojung sighed.

The quarrel went on for a while, so Seunghee just continued cleaning the kitchen, not caring about the stupid topic of the couple’s conversation. At night, Binnie and Seunghee were sitting on the outside wooden swinging bench that Hyojung had created with her nature powers. They had made a habit of sitting there, just to talk. It was still cold, so they always brought hot tea with them.

“You see…”, she started, “Yooa is always like this whenever Mimi disappears for a long time.”

“Like what?”, Seunghee arched an eyebrow.

“Like…”, Binnie pressed her lips, trying to find the correct words, “Like a lost puppy?”

Seunghee chuckled softly.

“I mean, I would be the same if you suddenly…”, Binnie stopped midsentence, too ashamed to continue.

“If I what?”, Seunghee pressed her.

“Doesn’t matter”, Binnie dismissed the topic by waving her hand and immediately changed it.

“You still haven’t met Yooa’s wolfpack, right?”, Binnie posed.

“No, I haven’t. But I’m also not very looking forward to it”, Seunghee pointed, “Hyojung said they are quite uncivilized…”

“That’s a way to put it”, Binnie laughed at the description, “They are quite nice actually. It’s just there’s too many of them. And they are loud. Like, deafeningly so.”

Binnie intensely stared at Seunghee.

“Yooa is calm compared to the rest”, Binnie added.

Seunghee was surprised. The werewolf was many things, but Seunghee would have never described her as a calm person. She was always hectic, as if she was running late everywhere. She was loud and clumsy. Moreover, Yooa was nosy and always had to have the last word in every conversation. However, it all made her a very charming and funny person overall, making it quite easy to become fond of her, even with all her dramatism. The girl was attentive and caring, in her own way, of course. She would never directly show it, Seunghee was sure about that, but the werewolf was always the one that reminded Seunghee of drinking her weekly cup of blood.

“Still, I don’t think you’ll have the pleasure to meet them”, Binnie shrugged, “After the last time some of them were here, Hyojung forbid them to come for fifty years.”

“We could always pay a visit”, Seunghee smiled.

“Are you out of your mind?”, Binnie opened her eyes wide, “You never enter werewolf territory without their permission. Specially a vampire! You’d get killed before you could greet them!”

“I didn’t know about that”, Seunghee’s finger fidgeted with her shirt.

“It’s okay”, Binnie softly caressed the vampire’s hand, making Seunghee lift her head, “You don’t have to know about everything. Besides, it feels nice being the second dumbest in the house.”

Binnie stuck out her tongue, making fun of Seunghee, but the vampire did not take offense.

“You are right. I am a moron”, Seunghee dramatized.

“I did not expect Binnie to be a moronsexual”, a voice muttered from above.

The girls lifted their faces, one of them visibly red from the embarrassment, to encounter Binnie’s familiar hanging from the roof of the cabin. He had changed his usual black attire to a burgundy one. However, his eyeshadow was still jet black and smudged all over his eyelids.

“Wooyoung!”, Binnie voiced, “How long have you been there?”

“Just for a couple minutes”, the demon shrugged and let himself drop in front of the couple, “Did I interrupt something?”

Wooyoung lifted one of his eyebrows at Seunghee. The demon had the ability to piss the vampire off every time he opened his mouth. Sometimes he would not have to even open it. Just a smirk or movement of his eyebrows was enough to push Seunghee to the edge. She still had not landed any punch on the guy, but she sure wanted to.

“Why are you looking so formal?”, Binnie diverted Wooyoung’s attention back to himself.

“Ah? This?”, Wooyoung fixed the fit of the burgundy suit jacket he was wearing, “I just had some business to tend to.”

“Meaning?”, Binnie insisted.

“I was simply seducing the heiress of a big company in hopes of her becoming my sugar mommy”, Wooyoung explained with a smirk.

“Is this guy for real?”, Seunghee asked her friend.

“C’mon! Don’t be so upright!”, Wooyoung passed his arms over the vampire’s shoulders, “We are both gaining from this relationship. I get money and power and she gets to fulfill her sinful desires…”

“You are using people for your own benefit”, Seunghee pointed while sliding out of the demon’s embrace.

“Seunghee, dear, sometimes you forget I am a demon”, Wooyoung rolled his eyes, “I never have good intentions. The only good I do is sex.”

Wooyoung smiled proudly.

“Disgusting”, Binnie cut the demon before he started his usual rampage about his superior sexual abilities.

“Binniebin, don’t say that!”, Wooyoung pouted.

“Why did you suddenly come anyway?”, Binnie asked.

“Ah, right. I need to talk to you”, the demon nodded, “In private”, he glanced at Seunghee.

“Yeah, sure, sure. I’ll go back”, Seunghee lifted her hands, defeated.

“Sorry”, Binnie mouthed before the vampire turned the corner.

Seunghee just nodded and headed back to the house. Whatever the witch and her familiar had to discuss was none of her business. But she had to admit she was curious. She was curious about everything surrounding the witch. Even more after their encounter with Chan and the almost-killing-Binnie-to-drink-her-blood incident. The vampire had become even fonder of the witch. However, Seunghee was careful around her, not knowing when the bloodthirst could strike again. Binnie did not seem to care and hanged around the vampire as if nothing had happened. As if Seunghee had not begged to drink her blood, most likely killing her in the process. Seunghee was grateful that the witch acted so natural, however, she would like it more if Binnie was more… distant. Not as in emotionally, but as in physically. Binnie was always so close, making Seunghee’s senses tickle. She was hyperaware of everything the witch said and did. Seunghee noticed all the times she would tuck her hair behind her ear, the way she covered her mouth when laughing or how Binnie would always scrunch her nose when she did not like something. The vampire was happy to have someone to call a friend, but she did not want to harm Binnie in any way. Seunghee felt in a bind, both wanting to spend time with her new immortal friend and to protect her from any casualties that her new acquired condition could entail. And with casualties Seunghee meant literally killing her. If the vampire told Binnie this, she would more than likely say that Seunghee was worrying too much, that Wooyoung would come and protect her, or that she trusted the vampire would not harm her. Seunghee knew all these facts, but she was not so sure about which desire would prevail when encountering the same situation. Would desire take over her? Or would she remember that she cares about the person she wants to suck dry? These questions filled Seunghee’s mind 24 hours a day.

Seunghee entered the house and her eyes met an apparent secretive meeting between Jiho and Hyojung. The witch was whispering fervently, while Hyojung’s eyebrows furrowed with every word Jiho said. The conversation came to an end the instant the two of them noticed Seunghee’s presence. Jiho quickly stood up and headed up the stairs, probably to the potion room. Ever since Chan’s incident, she started being even more reclusive than usual. Seunghee was pretty sure Jiho was avoiding her. The vampire wanted to have a serious talk with her, and Jiho knew so she hid away inside the potion room or her room. Seunghee had been smart enough not to enter the potion room ever since. She knew her presence would cause discomfort on the witch, and Seunghee did not want that. If Seunghee wanted to know for real what was the deal with Jiho and her relationship with Chan, she had to approach the girl carefully. So far, she had made zero progress on that field as the witch was always on edge and even a ‘good morning’ from the vampire would make her flinch.

Hyojung’s loud sigh brought Seunghee’s mind back to reality. Seunghee did not notice her eyes had been fixed on the staircase until she landed them on the deity.

“Is… everything okay?”, Seunghee asked softly.

Hyojung looked into Seunghee’s eyes and smiled softly.

“Yeah, sure”, Hyojung lied.

The vampire stared into the deity’s black eyes. Her overall appearance was that of a girl on her early twenties: soft skin, long lustrous black hair, full cheeks, but those eyes… Those eyes had seen things. Maybe some of them unspeakable of. Seunghee could not deny she wanted to know some of those things. She felt as if Hyojung was carrying some kind of burden, and, to be honest, the vampire felt the responsibility to give back to the woman that had offered her a home. If that meant sharing said heaviness, she was more than willing to. However, she was sure the deity would not want to share such personal information. In the months Seunghee had been living in the cabin, she had learnt to not disturb Hyojung. She was the most secretive out of all the girls and spent most of her time inside her greenhouse, only coming out to have lunch and dinner all together in the living room. Arin would roam around the house all day, always seemingly busy with something, but Hyojung stayed inside her temple all day long. Seunghee respected this and never even tried to venture inside the greenhouse, not since that time she was invited on her first day. Hyojung comforted the vampire on that day, and Seunghee wanted to do the same for her. However awful her story was, Seunghee wanted to provide support for the deity.

“Are you sure?”, Seunghee tested the waters, “You know you can tell me anything.”

There, the seed of reliance was planted. Seunghee tried her best to keep calm and assured, hoping it would prompt the deity to speak. Hyojung pressed her lips tight.

“No need to worry about me, Seunghee”, Hyojung smiled and stood up.

The deity walked towards the kitchen, most likely heading to the greenhouse, as it was only accessible from there.

“Then… how about Jiho?”, Seunghee tried once again, “Is she okay?”

Hyojung turned around and rested her body on the kitchen counter.

“Well, that’s something you ought to ask her directly”, she responded.

“It’s not easy to do so since she is clearly avoiding me ever since the incident with that demon”, the vampire pointed.

“Yeah, I know”, Hyojung nodded while pressing her lips, “She really finds it hard to forgive herself…”

“Forgive herself? She did nothing wrong!”, that was a fact, even more, Jiho had helped save Binnie’s life.

“That’s not the way she sees it”, Hyojung sighed.

“But why would she see it any other way?”, the vampire pressed.

“Feelings are complicated, Seunghee.”

“I don’t get what does that have to do with being so cryptic…”, Seunghee muttered more for herself than for Hyojung to hear, so she was surprised when the deity replied.

“In this house we all have baggage, Seunghee. Whether people decide to talk to you about it or not is their choice. I am not about to expose any family member”, Hyojung said coldly.

Seunghee felt shivers run down her spine. The atmosphere around the deity had completely changed. The vampire gulped down almost scared of the sudden transformation. Luckily, it did not last long. Soon enough, Hyojung was back to her smiley calm persona and headed further inside the kitchen to the greenhouse after bowing to Seunghee.

The tension left in the air was almost choking the vampire. She felt the pressure of Hyojung’s words. ‘We all have baggage’, Hyojung said. Seunghee thought about what Binnie had told her about herself back in the library. All this people had lived longer than the vampire, they carried centuries of experience on their shoulders. Both good and bad. Hyojung was right about one thing: her new family was in no place entailed to provide Seunghee any information about their past lives. However, that did not make the vampire’s spirit falter. She wanted to know. She _needed_ to know.

Curiosity can be a dangerous thing. It can consume you, or it can enlighten you. With knowledge comes responsibility. Seunghee knew that everything came at a price. She wondered if she could pay this one or carry on another debt.

※

Seunghee’s face was so buried in the book she was reading that she did not notice Binnie entering the library. It was quite an interesting book about demons and demonic arts. After her conversation with Hyojung, the vampire had set herself to finding out the truth about Chan. And that meant learning about his kind. Of course, it would be easier to just ask certain familiar, but Seunghee was sure that Wooyoung would comply only at a price. She was risking enough already.

“What you up to?”, Binnie was right in front of Seunghee’s face.

The vampire got startled and threw the book up in the air as a reflex and Binnie grabbed it. She was surprisingly agile.

“ _Demonic Arts: How to Summon the best Demon_ ”, Binnie read the title, “What is this? You want a familiar?”, the witch scoffed.

“I am just expanding my knowledge”, Seunghee tried to get back her book.

“About demons?”, Binnie chuckled, “When you hate the guts of the one demon you know?”

“Of the _two_ demons I know”, Seunghee corrected her friend.

“Yeah, right. I forgot”, the witch sulked.

“Sorry to remind you”, Seunghee apologized.

Binnie gazed intently at the book as if it could help her find a new topic of conversation.

“Is this because that guy mentioned Jiho?”, Binnie finally looked up to face Seunghee. Her eyes were intensely piercing the vampire.

“Well… yeah. Aren’t you curious about why he would know her?”, Seunghee asked.

“I am”, Binnie agreed.

“Then…”

“But that does not mean I support what you are doing, Seunghee”, the witch continued.

“What?”

“Going behind Jiho’s back? Trying to expose her? This is so not like you”, Binnie insisted.

“Well, it’s not like I can ask her directly when she is avoiding me!”, Seunghee excused herself.

“Still! Even if she is avoiding us! We shouldn’t…”, Binnie reprimanded the other.

“Wait. She is avoiding you too?”, Seunghee stopped the witch’s train of thought.

“Yeah”, Binnie pouted, “She doesn’t come to the potion room as often…”

Seunghee sighed.

“That’s because she is hiding something from us”, the vampire pressed, trying to convince her friend.

“Or because she is scared”, Binnie defended her teacher.

“Of what?”, Seunghee asked.

Binnie opened her mouth to reply but could not find the words. Silence reigned for a while, making the library air dense. Seunghee did not want to fight with Binnie over this, so she took it upon her to apologize to the witch, only to be a stopped by a squeaky dolphin laugh.

“I should have brought some popcorn after all…”

Wooyoung was sitting on one of the armchairs, casually looking at the fighting girls. Why is it that whenever Seunghee and Binnie were having a conversation that guy had to disturb them? The vampire, happy to vent her frustrations out, approached the demon with the object of using him as a punching ball. She was fed up with him and the way he always had to interrupt her precious time with Binnie. Wooyoung stood up to face Seunghee. He was taller than her, but Seunghee had become strong. She was sure she could at least land a punch on the guy. Just a single punch would do. Seunghee lifted her arm but stopped midair, menacingly looking at the demon.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, Wooyoung’s face contorted into one of those demonic smug smiles of his.

Then he vanished and reappeared next to Binnie. He placed one of his arms around the witch’s shoulders.

“You are so clingy”, Binnie complained.

“You secretly love it, don’t you?”, Wooyoung chuckled.

“How did you know?”, Binnie said sarcastically.

She shook her shoulders in order to free herself from the demon’s arm.

“Why did you come now?”, Seunghee basically barked at him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know I had to ask permission?”, the demon raised his hands, “Are you the police? I thought vampires were the ones that had to be invited?”

“You are so…”, Seunghee lifted an accusatory finger towards Wooyoung.

“Would you guys stop?”, Binnie cut the bickering.

“Even though I came to help her, she reacts like this?”, Wooyoung defended himself.

“You came to what?”

If Seunghee thought she had seen it all, she was definitely wrong. Wooyoung? Came to help her? Seunghee?

“You want intel on a certain demon, right?”, Wooyoung stared at the vampire.

“Yes, Christopher”, Seunghee’s voice trembled a little bit when pronouncing the name of the maniac that had attacked them.

“Chan is shorter”, Wooyoung took a seat and prompted the girls to imitate him.

“But you said it was not your place to talk about this”, Seunghee lifted an eyebrow.

“It’s not my place to talk about Chan’s and Jiho’s relationship, but I can talk about that bastard as much as I please”, Wooyoung corrected the vampire.

“You are so fickle”, Binnie snorted.

“Anyway!”, Wooyoung pretended as if he had not heard the witch, “You interested or not?”

As much as Seunghee was interested on the topic, and as good as a temptation Wooyoung was presenting, she still could not trust the demon fully.

“What do you want in return?”, Seunghee posed.

Wooyoung bursted out laughing.

“I have no ulterior motives”, he replied.

“You always have ulterior motives”, Seunghee insisted.

The demon got serious.

“Those motives don’t concern you”, Wooyoung voice was a little scary when he spoke again.

“So, you want me to believe you are just going to give me this information and are expecting nothing in return?”, the vampire could not believe her ears.

“Let’s just say I am using you to redeem myself”, the demon shrugged.

“What did you do?”, Seunghee asked, still doubting him.

Wooyoung did not give her an answer. Seunghee furrowed her eyebrows. Could she trust the demon? Wooyoung stare had not move an inch from the vampire. Something inside her told Seunghee not to trust him, after all, he was a demon! And demons were intrinsically bad, right? It was in their nature. But then again, Wooyoung had done nothing to betray her trust, he was just a dick, a very annoying dude. That is why Seunghee could not trust him fully. However, he had protected them from Chan back in the clear. Seunghee gulped down. On the other hand, she was so curious. She had the opportunity to learn more about the bastard. Knowledge is power. Hopefully, she could make something out of what Wooyoung had to say. Perhaps Seunghee could shed some light into the matter, connect the dots between Jiho, Chan and… Wooyoung himself, and learn about how that could possibly involve Binnie.

The vampire looked at her friend. Binnie was staring at the wooden panels of the floor, maybe trying to find hidden shapes on the wood’s grain. She was interested in the conversation, Seunghee could tell, but she was also uncomfortable. Both the memory of Chan and the thought of betraying Jiho’s trust were probably rummaging through her mind.

Seunghee closed her eyes and inhaled slowly and deeply. When she opened them, she stared back at the demon. She had made her choice.

“Let’s hear it”, she said.

Wooyoung smiled and started his tale.

※

_Chan is probably the most powerful demon I know, besides myself of course, and we met for the first time centuries ago. He was the familiar of a powerful witch. Quite fitting for him, really. Back then he was not as powerful as nowadays, but he was kind of an inspiration for me. You could say I looked up to him. He was a nice guy, really. This witch he served was the queen of a land no longer exists. She was beautiful, merciful, wise… All the good qualities royalty is supposed to have. Eventually, when I became suitable enough, I also became her familiar. It’s not weird for witches to have multiple familiars, if they can control them, that is. And she could, she definitely could. She was skilled, she made perfect potions and enchantments. If I didn’t know any better, I would have claimed she was as powerful as Morgan herself, but that would have meant trouble for all of us. After all, Morgan is sacred, and one mustn’t speak like that of her. No matter how good they think their master is._

_Her Majesty had a daughter. Chan and I could tell the princess had the prospects of becoming a witch as powerful as our master, the queen. So, we advised her to train the princess. Perhaps that was our first mistake. The princess was good, better than what we expected. That made the queen hasty and greedy. She wanted her daughter to become as powerful as she was. Of course, all parents want the best for their kids. Or at least, what they think it’s best for them. Familiars can be handed down, especially when there is a strong connection between the witches. What greater bond is there than that of mother and daughter? Like that, Chan became the princess familiar. I was supposed to take care of our master while he nurtured the new witch. Everything was nice until… I failed my mission. The king, the actual ruler of the land… found out about our master’s powers. She… Her Majesty was sentenced to death… I tried convincing her of fleeing with her daughter, but she knew she would be hunted, so she asked us, both Chan and me to run away with the princess. Her Majesty broke our contract before she was killed, freeing me. Chan escaped with her daughter and I… I went back to the Demon realm._

_She was the first master I had, so it was hard for me… coping with her death. I was not the same demon I am today, I lacked experience, guts, power… It affected me deeply. I couldn’t face Chan for a long time, and when I finally met him again… He had changed. He was no longer the guy I admired… he was the Chan you met in the clear: manic, greedy, violent… No trace of the Chan I knew and looked up to. You see… Witches and demons, once we create a bond, a contract… whatever you wanna call it… Not only do our lifelines become one, also… our feelings kind of do too. We feel as our master feels… Most likely, the princess was deeply affected by her mother’s death. Which ended up harming Chan in an even deeper way, making him become the guy he is today… They are hurting each other since they are both still grieving._

Seunghee contemplated the demon as he talked. She did not know what kind of story she was expecting, but it definitely was not that. Binnie was crying, probably affected by Wooyoung’s feelings because of the bond they shared. The vampire did not know what she should say after the demon finished his tale.

“That was… insightful…”, Seunghee hawked.

“I just unlocked my tragic backstory and you just said it is insightful?”, Wooyoung snorted.

“I don’t know what to say!”, Seunghee defended herself.

“Then say you’ll help me”, Wooyoung begged.

“Help you? How?”, Seunghee wanted to know.

“When Chan escaped with the princess, he took her to a place where none could harm her. I am pretty sure he would be there”, Wooyoung explained.

“And where is that place?”, Binnie asked.

“Well… that’s…”, Wooyoung scratched his neck nervously.

“You don’t know where it is”, Seunghee affirmed.

“But I know how to find it!”, Wooyoung pointed.

“How do we find it then?”, Binnie pressed.

“We need a Lost and Found enchantment”, the demon explained.

“Those are like super advanced!”, Binnie complained.

“I’ll help you!”, Wooyoung tried to persuade the witch.

“We also need a reference”, Binnie started walking aimlessly around the library.

“My memories”, the demon simply said.

“That’s very dangerous!”, Binnie stopped on her tracks, “Are you crazy?”

“It’s been over seven centuries, Binniebin! I can’t elude my part of responsibility forever!”, Wooyoung insisted.

“Why are you so concerned about a guy that tried to kill me!”, Binnie exploded.

“Because to me he is the same Jiho is to you!”, Wooyoung raised his voice.

“He tried to kill us!”, Binnie repeated.

“Binnie… please… I can’t do this without you”, the demon was about to get on his knees and beg.

Binnie’s eyes fidgeted, not knowing where to land. She looked to Seunghee and back to the demon. She took a deep breath and gulped down.

“Okay”, Binnie abruptly spoke.

“For real?”, Wooyoung was confused.

“You have done so much for me, I have to give back”, Binnie nodded.

“That’s my Beans”, the demon smiled widely.

“I’ll go too”, Seunghee blurted out.

“Then let’s get moving, we have an enchantment to prepare”, the witch ordered.

※

Seunghee held both Wooyoung’s and Binnie’s hand. They were in a circle in the middle of the forest, waiting for Binnie to start the enchantment. The plan was to find the way to the place and immediately shadow travel before Chan could detect them and hide.

Binnie took a deep breath and started muttering some words. When the witch raised her head, her pupils were frantically moving around the girl’s eye balls. That image gave Seunghee the creeps, but she tried her best not to show it and continued holding on to the other’s hands.

“Found you!”, Binnie suddenly shouted.

The next thing Seunghee knew is that her whole world was spiraling while she was surrounded by a black smoke. She could not see nor hear anything, the only thing that assured her she was still alive was Binnie’s grip that closed tightly around her hand.

The vampire was getting dizzy when, as suddenly as the spiraling started, it stopped. She fell to the ground as her knees where weak and found herself bathed in sunlight. They had landed on a prairie. A very beautiful one at that. The scenery was composed of different shades of green which were briefly interrupted by pops of different colorful flowers. In the distance, they could see a big house surrounded by a tall metallic fence.

“It’s like a giant garden”, Binnie muttered.

“It’s the palace location”, Wooyoung added.

“For real?”, Seunghee asked.

“The princess probably recreated it”, the demon started walking towards the house.

Binnie and Seunghee followed quickly after him. The vampire was not sure of the kind of situation they would have to confront once they reached the house, but she tried to ready herself for every possibility that occurred to her. When they approached the fence, the door opened on its own, as if inviting them in. Wooyoung gulped before passing through and into the house front yard. Seunghee could see a figure standing by the house’s entrance door.

“Chan”, Wooyoung called the demon’s name.

“Wooyoungie! You have decided to bless me with your presence! To what do I owe said honor?”, he greeted him.

“You know why I’m here”, Wooyoung said.

“Damn right I know!”, Chan was cheerful, “To settle matters, right?”

“Once and for all”, the demon nodded.

“But you see… I have no problem with the current state of my affairs”, Chan chuckled.

“You are okay with what you have become?”, Wooyoung pressed him.

“Nature is mutable. You have to adapt to survive. Don’t you know anything about this cruel world we live in?”, Chan shook his head, as if he could not believe Wooyoung’s naivety.

“Her Majesty would have never…”, Wooyoung started.

“DON’T MENTION HER!”, Chan howled.

The demon hawked and went back to his composed self.

“Don’t you dare mention the master you left to die”, he concluded.

“Chan, I…”

“NO! You have no right to be here! To tell me how I am supposed to act! Who do you think you are? I made you! Without me you would be nothing but another useless demon that lasts less than a century. I trained you! I gave you the means to obtain power! And you have the audacity to barge into our house to tell us who we should be?”, Chan was shouting while approaching the trio.

“Why are you talking in plural? You are alone here”, Wooyoung pointed.

Seunghee’s attention was diverted to Chan’s back. Behind him, the house was glitching. Sometimes it looked like the house they first saw when arriving, and others it was just ruins. The ruins of what the vampire thought was a castle.

“I am not alone! I am with Her Royal Highness”, Chan looked back towards the house as if looking for someone else.

“Chan… there is none there”, Wooyoung whispered softly.

“She is here! The princess! She told me to protect her! I am fulfilling my duty!”, Chan’s eyes were covered in tears.

“Chan. Enough”, a voice shushed the demon from behind them.

Seunghee turned around to see Jiho standing by the fence, which was also glitching, becoming ruins in the corner of the vampire’s eyes.

“Princess!”, the demon cried.

“Princess?!”, Binnie and Seunghee could not believe their ears.

Jiho ran towards him and hugged him tight. Chan slowly wrapped his arms around her and sobbed in silence on her shoulder.

“Why are you here?”, she demanded to know.

“You guys know each other?”, Binnie replied with another question.

“He’s my familiar”, the witch replied coolly.

“What?”, Seunghee was shocked.

“This is why I didn’t get into much detail…”, Wooyoung explained.

“Jiho, your familiar or not, he’s dangerous”, Binnie insisted.

“No, he’s not. We’re okay. Now leave!”, Jiho ordered them.

“Not without you!”, Binnie’s voice rose up.

“This place is crumbling down, Your Highness!”, Wooyoung pressed.

And he was right. The house was no longer glitching for it had completely disappeared, revealing the truth it was conceiting: the ruins of a palace long covered by moss. All around them had changed, the green had turned into a dull grey and even the sun had stopped radiating any heat. It was chilly enough to send shivers down the vampire’s spine.

“Jiho”, Binnie spoke softly, “Please, come with us.”

“Let us help you”, Seunghee insisted.

“Your Highness, you know better than me what is happening right now. Your feelings and Chan’s are intertwined together too closely, to the point you can’t distinguish who is feeling what. This is hurting you both deeply”, Wooyoung tried to knock some sense back into the witch, “It’s been over seven hundred years, Your Highness, we have to let go.”

Jiho’s eyes were damp with unshed tears. She was trying hard to keep her composure.

“When Royal Mother was…”, she stuttered, “When she was killed… , Chan and me… we destroyed it all. Such was our grievance and our desire for revenge. They burned her alive! We couldn’t even find a trace of her to bury, Wooyoung! So, we gave them a taste of their own medicine”, Jiho started crying, “But we didn’t feel better… I thought the cabin, away from here, from our secret garden, could help me heal…, but I left Chan here, I abandoned him…”

Jiho was unable to talk due to her sobbing, and Chan stopped crying to look into the princess’ eyes.

“Your Highness! No! You didn’t abandon me. I chose to stay. I didn’t want to become a burden for you. Ever since…”, Chan gulped down, “Ever since Her Majesty passed away, after we burned the kingdom down, after we erased it from history… I thought we could start anew. But when you had the possibility, I knew I couldn’t move on with you. I am too wounded, Your Highness.”

Then he stepped away from Jiho, creating a distance between them. The others could only watch as the desperate conversation unfolded in front of them.

“I have thought about it for a long time, Your Highness”, Chan continued.

“Don’t you dare even suggest it, Christopher!”, Jiho cried.

“I think it’s at your best interest that we break our contract”, the demon’s had tears in his eyes as he spoke.

“NO! I oppose it!”, Jiho took a step forward, but Chan took a step back.

“It is better if we part ways, Your Highness”, he insisted.

Jiho was shaking her head, violently opposing the other’s suggestion.

“I am hurting you”, Chan’s voice cracked.

“We’ll figure out a way!”, Jiho insisted.

“This is the best solution, isn’t it Wooyoung?”, Chan looked for the other’s demon support.

Wooyoung nodded, approving of the demon’s desires.

“You can just make another pact”, Chan said, “You don’t have to go back to being a mere human.”

“I don’t want eternity if it’s not with you!”, Jiho’s voice was nothing more than a whisper when she spoke.

The implications of those words slowly downed on the group.

“We are both broken, that’s true”, she continued, “But we can fix each other. We can get help, Chris. There’s this thing called psychologists now. We could have a session. We can create our own secret garden, not an illusion of it.”

The witch slowly approached the guy. This time he did not regress. Chan flinched when Jiho place her hand on his cheek and caressed it softly.

“I could mess up again”, Chan insisted.

“Then we’ll find a better solution”, Jiho responded while gazing into the other’s eyes.

“Witches and their familiars are not supposed to date”, the demon explained.

“And you suddenly care about following the rules?”, Jiho chuckled.

“I only care about you, Your Highness”, Chan replied.

“Jiho, Chris. Just call me by my name”, the girl asked of him.

“I would have to get used to it”, Chan laughed.

Seunghee could not believe the scene that was taking place in front of her own two eyes. She could not help but feel all fuzzy inside as two deeply hurt people decided to take the path of healing. It would be tough for them, over seven hundred years of trauma could not be forgotten in a single day, but if there was something clear is that the couple had all the time in the world to do so. And they would do it together.

“Let’s go back”, Binnie muttered.

“Yeah, I feel like we are just third-wheeling right now”, Seunghee agreed.

“Figures, they just needed a little push from the professional matchmaker Jung Wooyoung”, the demon praised himself for no reason.

“Sure”, Binnie rolled her eyes, “Now, let’s shadow travel back.”

“I’ll yeet you girls back instead”, Wooyoung pouted.

“You’ll what?”, the witch asked.

However, their world was already spinning and covered in black smoke before someone could give her an answer.

※

Jiho came back with Chan a couple hours later. The first thing they did was head towards the greenhouse, probably with the intention of talking everything through with Hyojung. Just before dinner, they came out.

“You should stay over”, Hyojung told the demon.

“I don’t want to disturb your dinner time”, Chan excused himself.

“You are no disturbance”, Hyojung smiled.

“We have BBQ!”, Arin beamed.

“I can’t say no to barbeque”, Chan lifted his arms in defeat.

Thirty minutes later, Jiho had created a heat bubble for them to stay under while grilling the meat outside. Arin was preparing the meat with Wooyoung’s help (he had not been invited but none had the guts to ask him to go). Seunghee and Binnie had set up the wooden table that Hyojung had built in mere seconds and were now preparing some side dishes to accompany the tender meat. Jiho and Chan were flirting in a corner, Jiho’s legs over Chan’s, just chuckling while drinking wine. If anybody saw them, they would just look like a couple of college students whose most pressing worries were their grades. Yooa’s mouth watered while she asked every ten seconds about the status of the meat. If Mimi was here, she would be bothering the werewolf about her never-ending urge of eating.

Seunghee took a moment to think about the other vampire. Where could she had gone to? She left in such a rush, without telling anyone her destination. Seunghee had no means of finding her, so she just waited for the other to come back.

She talked about trivial things with everyone while having dinner. The atmosphere surrounding the scene was so serene and peaceful that Seunghee could not have enough. She was enjoying herself with her forever family and that was the best feeling in the world.

After dinner, the love birds disappeared into the forest while the rest cleaned up. When they were finished, Wooyoung called Seunghee’s name.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”, the demon asked her.

“Yeah, sure.”

Wooyoung took his time before starting, as if he was bracing himself for the vampire’s reaction.

“As my situation with Jiho has calmed down, I am going to be coming more frequently to help Binnie with her witchcraft”, he explained.

“So?”, Seunghee posed.

“That means you will have to stand my presence more often”, Wooyoung continued.

“Why are you rubbing it on my face?”, Seunghee complained.

Wooyoung sighed exasperatedly.

“Look, I know you don’t like me. I am not particularly fond of you either”, he said, “But… the way Binnie feels when she is around you… She was not like that before.”

“So… You are suggesting we create a kind of non-aggression pact?”, the vampire asked.

“Exactly! For Binnie’s sake. Or we are going to drive her mad”, Wooyoung pressed his lips.

“Yeah”, Seunghee chuckled, “Definitely.”

“So, deal?”, the demon arched an eyebrow.

“Deal”, Seunghee extended her hand towards the guy.

Wooyoung shook the vampire’s hand with a smile.

“Let’s get along”, he added.

“Sure”, the vampire nodded.

The demon turned around to disappear into thin air, but Seunghee called out to him before he left.

“Wooyoung…”, she stuttered, “About… about the feelings you said Binnie feels when she is around me… What kind of feelings were you referring to?”

Wooyoung laughed so hard he bended over. If Seunghee could blush she definitely would. She regretted asking the question to him and surely hoped the demon could just let it go.

But, of course, he wouldn’t.

“You two are so oblivious”, he was fighting back laughter, “Like it’s so obvious… but still… PUAHAHAHAHAHA.”

“Forget I ever said anything”, Seunghee pouted.

“No, but like… for reals”, Wooyoung continued, “How can you two don’t realize you like each other? I mean? Even if I wasn’t a mind reader I would know.”

“What? I don’t like Binnie!”, the vampire defended herself.

“You have a massive crush on her”, Wooyoung corrected her.

“I don’t”, Seunghee bickered.

“You do. You definitely do”, the demon smiled.

“She is just a nice friend!”, Seunghee insisted.

“Uh-uh. Sure. Totally. Yeah”, Wooyoung chuckled while pretending to agree with the vampire.

“We are friends!”, Seunghee concluded.

“But you wouldn’t mind being something _more_ than friends”, the demon lifted his eyebrows a couple times.

“Being best friends would be nice, yeah!”, Seunghee raised her voice.

“Fuck yeah! That’s the attitude!”, Wooyoung patted the other’s back.

“Besides, Binnie would never like someone like me”, the vampire pouted.

Wooyoung opened his eyes and smiled smugly. There it was. The bastard’s characteristic smile.

“So… you are worried that she doesn’t like you…”, the demon ventured, “But you don’t like her.”

“I mean”, Seunghee’s voice was quiet, “Even If I actually did like her… In that sense… Hypothetically… She would never reciprocate…”

“So… if, of course hypothetically, there was this very little, tiny, minuscule possibility that she liked you… Would you try to make a move on her? Hypothetical move, of course”, Wooyoung posed.

“Hypothetically? Yeah, why not? She is nice and cute. And she dances lightly when she eats something she likes…”, Seunghee shrugged.

“Wow”, Wooyoung simply said.

“What?”, Seunghee asked.

“You don’t like her”, he affirmed.

“Yeah, I told you so”, Seunghee nodded.

“You are in fucking love with her!”, the demon exclaimed.

“What? NO!”, Seunghee rolled her eyes, “We are talking hypothetically, remember?”

“So, you wouldn’t make a move on me?”, a voice perked from behind them.

“Oh, my dearest Azazel”, Wooyoung’s eyes were about to escape his orbits, “I’m out.”

He disappeared with a puff, leaving Seunghee no choice but to turn around to meet the playful gaze of a certain witch.

“So?”, Binnie lifted an eyebrow at the vampire.

“We were talking hypothetically! You are my friend, Binnie”, Seunghee explained.

“What if I wanted you to make a move on me?”, the witch asked with sweet eyes, but Seunghee knew better. She was toying with her.

“Do you want me to? Hypothetically”, Seunghee asked.

“Yes. And also quite literally”, Binnie replied while approaching the vampire.

Seunghee’s eyes danced around, trying to look somewhere other than the witch. But her senses were tickling because of the other’s presence. She could hear Binnie’s breathing, smell her sweet vanilla scented fragrance and hear the other’s heart beating like crazy. Or was it hers? _Your heart doesn’t beat, stupid_ , she reminded herself. It had to be Binnie’s heart. Why was it beating like crazy? Did she run all the way here? No way. She walked softly, like she did everything. Softly. She talked softly, she cooked potions softly. She was soft. In general. All over. Seunghee stared at the other’s lips. They were plump and soft. Or at least, Seunghee was sure they would be soft. Why was she wondering about Binnie’s lips texture? They were friends. Binnie was joking. Or was she? The vampire could hear the drum of the witch’s heart in her ear. It was making her feel dizzy. They were friends, right? And friends do not think about their friends lips. And how soft they could be. Seunghee stared into Binnie’s eyes. They were twinkling as if she had a whole galaxy inside of her. She wanted to see that universe of hers from close up. Seunghee leaned forward, towards the witch’s face. She was so close, Binnie’s breaths tickling her own face. The heartbeat intensified, making it almost impossible for Seunghee to think about anything that was not Binnie and her soft lips and the universe inside her irises.

Maybe Wooyoung was right, she thought. No. The demon was definitely right. She liked Binnie. She was not in love with her… but she could be… In the future… If Binnie wanted. Seunghee gulped down and closed the short distance that was separating them.

Her lips were definitely soft.

Seunghee pulled the witch closer by placing a hand behind her neck while Binnie rested her hands on the vampire’s waist. They kissed slowly at first, enjoying the fact that they were kissing. Finally. Then more eagerly. Seunghee explored the other’s mouth with her tongue, tasting her. Her senses were so over stimulated she felt like she was going to lose herself any minute now. So she separated from Binnie.

“If I keep kissing you, I might bite you”, Seunghee gasped for air.

“I got too carried away too, sorry”, Binnie chuckled.

“No problem”, Seunghee smiled.

“Shall we go back?”, Binnie signaled the house by lifting her chin.

“Yeah, yeah. I just… need a second”, the vampire breathed in slowly.

“If there’s something I can give you is time”, Binnie replied.

※

Seunghee woke up before she wanted to be awake. Someone was knocking furiously on her door.

“What the fuck?”, she complained.

“Seunghee, come down. Now”, Yooa’s voice answered through the closed door.

The vampire then heard her quick steps go down the stairs, probably to the living room. Grunting, Seunghee got out of bed and without even bothering to check herself in the mirror, she followed the werewolf’s footsteps and headed towards the ground floor. Everyone was sitting around the table, and on its center, there was a letter.

“What’s going on?”, she asked.

“It’s for you”, Hyojung pointed at the envelope.

“For me? I’m dead. Who would write a letter to me?”, Seunghee wanted to know.

“Another dead person”, Jiho simply replied.

Worried, Seunghee rushed to grab the letter and opened it. With big red cursive handwriting, someone had addressed the letter to her. She proceeded to read it aloud so everyone could know what was going on.

_Dear Hyun Seunghee,_

_My name is Kim Yongsun. It has come to my attention that you are quite an exceptional individual within our already exceptional kind. Mimi has informed me of your basically non-existent blood-thirst symptoms, and I am a curious being by nature. I would like to invite you to a ball that is going to be held one week from today, so that we can discuss about your condition. The theme is Venetian Carnival. You are free to bring company. I hope this can be the beginning of a beautiful friendship._

_With best regards,_

_Solar._

Seunghee finished reading and stared at her audience. Hyojung was pale and looked like she was about to faint.

“Who is this person?”, Seunghee asked, “Why does Mimi know them? And why would they invite me to a ball?”

“I knew sooner or later this moment would come, but honestly I was hoping it would come later”, the deity muttered.

“What’s wrong Hyojung?”, Binnie posed.

“That woman… she is dangerous”, Arin explained, “She is the leader of a vampire sect. You have to go. Better not to get on their bad side.”

“So, they’ve got Mimi?”, Yooa’s eyebrows were so knitted together that it looked like she had only one.

“They don’t _have_ Mimi”, Hyojung explained, “She is not kidnapped or anything, she is just so kindly reminding us that Mimi is there. With them.”

“In danger”, Yooa insisted.

“Not unless she messes up”, Jiho pointed.

“But who exactly are these people?”, Seunghee intervened.

“Mamamoo”, Hyojung replied, “That’s the name of their sect. And they can be both our ally or our enemy. Depends on whether or not Solar takes a liking on you.”

“So, my life and Mimi’s depend on that woman’s mood?”, Seunghee felt dizzy.

“To put it simply… yes”, Hyojung nodded.

Seunghee sat down on a chair, defeated. She had a very busy week ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this part of the Oh My Girl Twilight AU! Expect more to come... whose backstory would be coming next?


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